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CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 
ITS   RELIGIOUS   PHILOSOPHY 


f 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 
ITS  RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY 


A  LECTURE 


BY  HON.  CLARENCE  A.  BUSKIRK 

•I 

MEMBER   OF   THE    BOARD    OP   LECTURESHIP 

OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST, 

SCIENTIST,    IN    BOSTON,    MASS. 


THE   CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE   PUBLISHING   SOCIETY 

FALMOUTH    AND    ST.    PAUL    STREETS 

BOSTON,    MASSACHUSETTS 

U.   S.   A. 


B  i 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
The  Chbistian  Soibnoi  Poblishino  Sooivit. 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 
ITS   RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY 


IT  IS  probably  true  that  the  extraordinary 
growth  and  strength  of  the  Christian  Science 
movement  is  due  very  largely  to  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  its  evidential  works  in  over- 
coming physical  sickness  and  vicious  habits  and 
tendencies.  Accomplished  facts  are  always  per- 
suasive, yet  it  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  that 
these  works,  however  great  their  humanitarian 
and  evidential  value,  are  the  ''signs  following,^' 
just  as  they  were  in  the  early  Christian  centuries. 
The  paramount  question  through  all  the  com- 
ing generations  of  men  and  women  must  con- 
tinue to  be,  as  now,  Is  the  religious  philosophy 
taught  in  Christian  Science  true  or  false? 
Through  the  crucible  of  this  paramount  questioti 
Christian  Science  is  now  passing,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  pass.  This  question  must  be,  and  finally 
will  be,  answered  according  to  the  standard  and 
measure  of  the  eternal  truths.  It  is  not  to  be 
answered  according  to  the  standard  and  measure 
of  current  creeds,  dogmas,  and  beliefs,  for  all 
these  have  shown  themselves  to  be  changing  as 
the  years  go  by  as  well  as  contradictory  among 
themselves. 

3 

363214 


4  CHRISTIAN  science: 

Using  the  term  "science'"  according  to  its 
higher  meanings,  a  reHgious  teaching  must  be 
strictly  "scientific,"  or  else  it  is  not  true.  If 
not  thus  scientifiCj  a  teaching  is  in  irreconcilable 
conflict  with  eternal  truth.  To  say  that  there 
is  no  science  of  Christianity  would  be  to  stigma- 
tize Christianity  as  a  false  teaching.  It  is  un- 
thinkable that  eternal  truths  are  not  in  absolute 
harmony  with  each  other;  hence,  what  is  true 
in  religion  is  likewise  true  in  science. 

Christian  Science  insists  that  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  are  in  perfect  accord  with  eternal  truth; 
it  teaches,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  Science  of 
Christianity,  or  Christian  Science.  But  are  the 
doctrine  and  practice  known  by  the  name  of 
Christian  Science,  as  taught  by  Mrs.  Eddy,  in 
accord  with  the  teachings  and  practice  of  Jesus, 
and  are  they  in  accord  with  our  highest  spirit- 
ual discernment  and  reason  in  respect  to  eternal 
truth?  This  seems  to  be  a  fair  and  clear  state- 
ment of  the  question  on  its  answers  to  which 
Christian  Science  is  to  be  judged. 

The  teachings  of  Jesus  could  not  be  rightly 
judged  from  the  view-point  of  the  established 
Hebraic  or  pagan  religions  of  that  time.  The 
astronomical  teachings  of  Galileo  could  not  be 
rightly  judged  from  the  view-point  of  those 
who  imprisoned  him  because  his  teaching  that 
the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun  was  both 
heretical  and  unscientific  if  tested  by  the  opin- 
ions   and  beliefs   of   the    Ptolemaic   astronomy. 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  5  . 

Christian  Science  is  not  to  be  approved  nor  con- 
demned because  its  teachings  seem  to  be  or  not 
to  be  in  aHgnment  with  the  teachings  of  other 
systems,  whether  medical  or  ecclesiastical.  They 
are  only  to  be  approved  or  condemned  as  they 
are  or  are  not  in  alignment  with  eternal  truth. 

Let  us  instance  this,  let  us  take  the  Christian 
Science  text-book,  "Science  and  Health  with  Key 
to  the  Scriptures''  by  Mrs.  Eddy.  It  seems  to  be 
the  just  and  intelligent  way  of  arriving  at  a 
verdict  in  respect  to  its  teachings,  first  to  try 
to  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  writer  as  a  con- 
nected and  entire  system  of  thought,  and  to  seek 
patiently  to  do  this  while  free  as  possible  from 
the  bias  of  preconceived  opinions  and  beliefs;  in 
other  words,  to  pursue  the  judicial  method  of 
suspending  judgment  until  the  matter  is  fully 
before  the  court.  It  is  customary  for  judges  to 
instruct  juries  to  form  no  opinions  in  respect  to 
what  their  verdicts  will  be  until  the  cases  have 
been  fully  presented.  He  is  deemed  an  unfit 
juror  whose  opinion  is  biased  at  the  beginning  of 
the  inquiry.  To  read  the  Christian  Science  text- 
book in  a  fragmentary  way,  and  to  toss  it  aside 
as  discredited  in  one's  judgment  because  some 
statement  it  makes  is  wholly  opposed  to  a  belief 
previously  formed,  is  quite  contrary  to  the  fair- 
ness which  is  carefully  sought  by  those  of  a  judi- 
cial attitude  of  mind. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  question  whether  the 
Christian   Science  doctrine  and  practice  are   in 


6  CHRISTIAN  science: 

alignment  with  eternal  truth  and  with  the  teach- 
ings and  life  of  Jesus.  Christian  Science  teaches 
that  there  is  one  Supreme  Being,  God,  who  is 
omnipotent,  omniscient,  and  omnipresent;  who  is 
infinite,  eternal,  and  unchanging.  It  teaches  that 
"God  is  Spirit"  (Revised  Version),  to  use  the  apt 
words  of  Jesus,  and  ''that  which  is  born  of  the 
Spirit  is  spirit."  If  God  be  omnipresent,  it  fol- 
lows that  He  cannot  be  a  corporeal  or  physical 
being,  limited  by  the  dimensions  of  space,  but 
that  He  is  infinite  Mind,  the  supreme  intelli- 
gence. It  also  inevitably  follows  that  all  real 
power  belongs  to  God  and  His  infinite  manifesta- 
tion, and  that  as  His  government  and  law  are 
spiritual  in  their  origin,  they  must  likewise  be 
spiritual  in  their  true  nature  and  processes.  We 
frequently  hear  the  phrase,  natural  law,  and  also 
the  phrase,  material  law.  But  we  need  for  the 
purpose  of  clear  thinking  to  keep  in  mind  that 
there  are  no  laws  apart  or  distinct  from  the  laws 
of  God.  Any  supposed  law  other  than  these  is 
merely  of  human  origin  and  belief. 

If  God  is  Spirit,  and  if  that  which  is  born  of 
Spirit  is  spiritual,  it  follows  that  all  of  God's 
manifestations,  creations,  and  resultants  are  like- 
wise spiritual.  These  could  not  be  of  a  nature 
contrary  to  the  nature  of  God.  Christian  Science 
insistently  teaches  that  everything  which  is  un- 
like and  contrary  to  the  nature  of  God  cannot 
be  of  God,  and  must  be  relegated  to  the  realm 
of  human  origin   and  belief.     To   reason   and 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  7 

understand  rightly  we  must  have  correct  classifi- 
cations and  precise  definitions. 

If  God  is  our  Father  and  we  are  His  offspring, 
it  follows  that  the  Scriptural  statement  must  be 
true  that  man  is  in  the  likeness  of  God,  and 
therefore  spiritual  and  not  material  in  his  true 
being  and  individuality.  All  that  is  spiritual 
being  eternal  and  unchanging,  it  follows  that 
man  in  his  real  being  and  individuality  is  im- 
mortal. Wisely  did  Paul,  contemplating  this 
eternal  truth,  exclaim:  "O  death,  where  is  thy 
sting?   O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?'' 

When  Paul  wrote  that  the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal,  and  that  the  things  which  are 
not  seen  are  eternal,  he  stated  an  eternal  truth 
which  is  the  only  possible  deduction  from  the 
proposition  that  God  is  Spirit  and  that  every- 
thing born  of  Spirit  is  likewise  spiritual.  The 
human  beliefs  entertained  by  many  persons,  even 
yet,  that  what  is  termed  matter  is  an  entity, 
noumenon^  the  reality  of  being,  and  therefore 
eternal,  instead  of  mere  phenomena ,  appearances 
that  are  witnessed  to  only  by  the  physical  senses, 
— all  such  human  beliefs,  when  followed  to  their 
logical  outcome,  are  atheistic  as  well  as  mate- 
rialistic. They  are  atheistic  because  they  are 
irreconcilable  with  God  as  Spirit.  Fortunately 
the  most  modern  text-books,  dealing  with  phi- 
losophy and  what  are  termed  the  natural  sci- 
ences, are  helping  to  remove  the  fog  of  loose 
thinking  which  until  recently  seemed  to  envelop 


8  CHRISTIAN  science: 

this  subject,  and  which  has  occasioned  a  good 
deal  of  misdirected  ridicule  against  the  Christian 
Science  teaching  in  respect  to  matter.  All  who 
keep  in  touch  with  current  thought  are  aware 
that  for  several  years  such  ridicule  has  been 
recoiling  upon  those  who  ignorantly  or  mali- 
ciously employed  it. 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  God  is  Truth. 
We  cannot  really  think  of  God  otherwise.  And 
it  follows  that  God  cannot  be  the  author,  di- 
rectly or  permissively,  of  anything  which  is  not 
absolutely  true  in  all  respects  and  in  all  ways. 
Suppose  that  all  persons  still  believed  that  the 
sun  revolves  around  the  earth,  or  suppose  that 
a  lunatic  believed  that  the  earth  is  pyramidal 
in  form.  Such  beliefs  do  not  stand  for  anything 
which  is  of  God,  or  true.  We  must  classify 
everything  which  is  not  true,  even  if  hu- 
manly believed  to  be  true,  as  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  God  as  Truth,  and  therefore  not  of 
God.  Christian  Science  therefore  insists  upon 
the  scientific  accuracy  and  value  of  the  remedy 
which  was  taught  by  Jesus,  for  all  forms  and 
phases  of  false  human  beliefs:  "Ye  shall  know 
the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  sin  and  sickness 
are  not  of  God,  because  contrary  to  the  nature 
of  God,  hence  that  they  must  have  their  origin 
in  erring  human  mentality;  and  the  panacea 
therefor  is  the  one  taught  and  exemplified  by 
Jesus.    Would  Jesus  have  been  able  to  overcome 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  9 

sin  if  sin  were  of  God,  or  a  truth  of  man's  being? 
Would  Jesus  have  been  able  to  overcome  physical 
sickness,  or  the  physical  phenomenon  called  death, 
if  physical  sickness  or  physical  death  were  of 
God,  and  so  a  part  of  the  truth  of  man's  being? 
Surely  not.  Jesus  sought  to  overcome,  and 
proved  himself  able  to  overcome,  sin,  sickness, 
and  death,  because  they  were  not  of  God.  He 
overcame  them  by  the  power  of  Truth,  declaring 
that  his  works  in  overcoming  them  were  the 
works  of  the  Father ;  and  he  thus  classified  these 
evils  as  falsehoods.  It  is  thus  seen  that  Chris- 
tian Science  is  not  the  invention  or  promulgation 
of  any  new  way  of  overcoming  sin  and  sick- 
ness. It  is  seeking  to  teach  the  right  way  for 
overcoming  the  discords  or  falsehoods  of  human 
existence  by  the  power  of  Truth. 

Jesus  gave  the  command  to  his  followers,  of 
all  times  and  countries,  to  heal  the  sick,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  gave  his  command  to  preach 
his  gospel;  indeed,  he  gave  the  two  commands 
in  the  same  sentence.  He  did  not  limit  these  com- 
mands to  any  one  people  or  any  one  generation, 
and  whenever  Christian  Scientists  successfully  per- 
form the  Christian  works  of  overcoming  human 
discords,  whether  of  sin  or  sickness,  according 
to  the  Christ  way,  they  furnish  the  highest  pos- 
sible evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Galilean  Wayshower,  of  the  trustworthiness 
of  his  promises,  and  of  the  sacred  validity  of  his 
commands.     Jesus  said  to  his  followers:  "If  ye 


lO  CHRISTIAN    science: 

love  me,  keep  my  commandments;''  and  this  was 
said  to  his  followers  of  all  times. 

On  all  recorded  occasions  Jesus  employed  the 
same  process  for  overcoming  sin  and  sickness, 
and  he  proved  thereby  that  they  were  of  the  same 
origin  and  nature.  We  never  read  that  he  diag- 
nosed diseases,  or  classified  them  into  functional 
and  organic,  acute  and  chronic,  curable  and  in- 
curable. In  the  Old  Testament  God  is  described 
as  the  ''great  Physician,''  He  of  whom  it  is  said 
that  He  ''healeth  all  thy  diseases."  Jesus  de- 
clared that  his  works  were  the  works  of  the 
Father.  Accepting  these  statements  as  true,  we 
cannot  diagnose  any  disease  as  incurable  with- 
out limiting  the  infinite  power  of  God.  Jesus 
not  only  taught  that  there  are  no  incurable  dis- 
eases, but  he  also  proved  it  by  his  works, — 
"healing  all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner 
of  disease;"  and  for  many  years  this  has  been 
likewise  accomplished  successfully  through  the 
ministry  of  Christian  Science,  which  fact  is  es- 
tablished by  an  array  of  trustworthy  evidence 
which  leaves  no  legitimate  ground  of  question. 

Christian  Science  earnestly  insists  that  all 
physical  diseases  are  curable  through  the  power 
of  divine  Truth.  It  gratefully  insists  that  its 
followers  for  many  years  have  been  able  to  prove 
to  mankind  that  the  promises  and  teachings  of 
Jesus  are  neither  false  nor  impractical,  but  are 
true  and  dependable  for  all  mankind,  at  all  times 
and  for  all  of  the  real  needs  of  humanity,  and 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  II 

ought  not  all  Christian  believers  to  be  grateful 
to  Christian  Science  for  furnishing  to  this  age 
of  doubting  Thomases  a  mass  of  evidence  which 
refutes  the  contentions  of  the  infidel  and  revital- 
izes faith  in  Christianity. 

Christian  Science  seeks  to  emphasize  to  the 
world  that  the  divine  Truth-cure  which  was 
taught,  exemplified,  and  commended  to  his  fol- 
lowers by  Christ  Jesus,  always  has  been  true, 
is  true  now,  and  always  will  be  true.  That 
which  has  once  been  proven  to  be  true  is  always 
capable  of  being  proven  to  be  true.  What  was 
true  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  must  be  true 
yet.  What  the  Christ-truth  stood  for  in  the  first 
'century  it  stands  for  in  this  twentieth  century, 
for  eternal  truths  are  spiritual  and  of  God;  and 
like  God,  they  are  ^*the  same  yesterday,  and  to 
day,  and  for  ever;"  having  *'no  variableness, 
neither  shadow  of  turning." 

There  could  not  be  now,  and  there  never  could 
have  been,  any  basis  for  scientific  understanding 
and  performance  if  the  eternal  truths  of  God's 
universe  did  not  shine  like  fixed  planets  forever 
the  same.  God's  universe  is  the  universe  of 
divine  Truth,  and  therefore  not  a  lawless  uni- 
verse. The  eternal  truths  of  God's  universe 
would  not  be  eternal  if  capable  of  any  change 
whatsoever;  hence  the  rules  or  laws  thereof  are 
likewise  incapable  of  change.  Jesus  declared  to 
his  followers:  '^He  that  believeth  on  me  \i.e.,  on 
what  he  taught! ,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he 


12  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

do  also."  This  statement  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  man's  destiny  and  being,  and  hence 
Jesus  did  not  limit  his  statement  to  any  country 
or  age.  He  proclaimed  that  he  came  to  fulfil  and 
not  to  destroy  the  law.  These  words,  as  well  as 
the  words  just  quoted,  together  with  his  state- 
ment that  it  is  the  truth  which  makes  us  free, 
and  that  the  works  of  deliverance  are  the  works 
of  God  our  Father, — all  these  unite  in  showing 
that  Jesus  did  not  regard  his  works  in  emanci- 
pating mankind  from  the  bonds  of  evil,  such  as 
sin,  sickness,  and  death,  to  have  been  in  suspen- 
sion or  nullification  of  God's  eternal  laws,  but 
in  conformity  with  and  in  obedience  thereto. 

The  word  "miracle,"  in  the  original  Greek 
from  which  our  English  Testament  is  a  transla- 
tion, signifies  a  wonder  or  sign.  It  was  medieval 
churchcraft  which  gave  to  the  word  ^'miracle" 
the  unauthorized  meaning  of  something  anti- 
natural  because  of  the  greater  power  residing 
in  the  more  divine  personality  of  Jesus.  The 
teaching  that  the  works  of  Jesus  were  melodra- 
matic exhibitions  of  his  personal  power,  despite 
his  declarations  that  they  were  the  works  of  the 
Father,  and  that  of  himself  he  could  do  nothing, 
may  have  suited  the  purposes  of  the  churchcraft 
of  the  dark  ages,  but  they  have  been  a  powerful 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  infidelity  ever  since. 
How  much  more  useful  to  our  race  are  his  works 
when  we  understand  that  he  taught  and  proved 
that   they  were   in   obedience   to   universal    and 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  1 3 

eternal  laws  which  humanity  can  make  use  of 
for  its  deliverance  and  salvation  at  all  times! 

Christian  Science  recognizes  the  statement  of 
an  eternal  truth  in  those  inspiring  words  of  the 
Bible:  "God  is  love/'  Those  words  explain  the 
motive  of  the  creation  and  being  of  everything 
in  God's  universe.  Divine  Love  purposes  the 
divine  will;  therefore,  everything  in  human  be- 
lief which  is  antipodal  to  God  as  Love  is  non- 
existent in  God's  universe.  Their  only  place  is 
in  that  human  consciousness  which  seems  to  be 
the  abiding-place  for  so  many  falsehoods.  Is 
it  not  really  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  Su- 
preme Being  apart  from  divine  Love? 

If  God  is  Love,  are  not  Christian  Scientists 
right  in  refusing  to  accept  any  dogma  or  creed 
which,  when  pursued  to  its  logical  outcome, 
would  represent  our  Father  to  be  either  unjust 
or  cruel,  capricious  or  revengeful?  How  can  one 
reasonably  affirm  that  God  is  Love,  and  then 
affirm  that  the  sinner  can  rely  with  perfect  as- 
surance upon  God's  help  when  appealed  to,  but 
that  the  sick  man  is  denied  this  privilege?  That 
Jesus  was  mistaken  when  he  employed  the  same 
spiritual  process  for  overcoming  both  sin  and 
physical  sickness?  That  the  records,  both  Scrip- 
tural and  non-Scriptural,  of  Jesus'  successful 
ministry  to  the  sick  as  well  as  the  sinning,  are 
false  records?  That  our  loving  Father  discrimi- 
nates between  the  classes  of  His  children,  though 
all  are  equally  needy? 


14  CHRISTIAN  science: 

A  few  years  ago  I  heard  from  a  Christian 
pulpit  an  attack  upon  what  the  preacher  thought 
to  be  Christian  Science.  He  sought  to  deny  the 
Christian  way  of  heaHng  the  sick  on  which  Chris- 
tian Science  rehes.  He  said  that  Jesus  did  not 
employ  a  process  wholly  spiritual,  and  to  sustain 
this  statement  he  instanced  the  occasion  when 
Jesus  in  restoring  sight  to  a  blind  man  anointed 
his  eyes  with  clay  and  spittle.  Let  us  analyze 
this  proposition.  If  Jesus  placed  any  reliance  at 
all  upon  the  healing  efficacy  of  the  clay  and  spit- 
tle, why  did  he  never  employ  that  remedy  on 
the  other  recorded  occasions  when  he  restored 
sight  to  the  blind?  If  the  clay  and  spittle  had 
any  medicinal  virtues,  why  is  it  that  during  the 
nineteen  centuries  which  have  since  elapsed  the 
learned  schools  of  medicine  have  not  discovered 
some  kind  of  a  clay-and-spittle  ointment  which 
is  good  at  least  for  weak  or  sore  eyes,  even  if 
not  for  blindness  ?  Can  any  one  honestly  believe 
that  the  mud  had  anything  to  do  with  the  res- 
toration of  sight  to  one  who  was  blind?  Is 
it  not  more  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Jesus  on 
that  occasion,  in  conformity  to  the  then  oriental 
custom,  may  have  been  expressing  his  contempt 
for  matter  as  a  curative  agency?  Such  an  argu- 
ment against  the  spiritual  healing  of  the  sick 
by  Christ  Jesus  is  puerile  and  unworthy. 

The  same  gentleman  attempted  two  other  argu- 
ments against  the  spiritual  healing  of  the  sick, 
and  the  first  of  these  was  that  the  apostle  who 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  1 5 

declared  that  ''the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the 
sick/'  first  said  that  the  priests  should  anoint 
the  sick  man  with  oil,  etc.  But,  if  the  apostle 
attributed  any  healing  efficacy  to  the  oil,  why  did 
he  not  say  so,  and  declare  that  the  oil  and  the 
prayer  of  faith  should  save  the  sick?  Why  did 
he  attribute  the  healing  wholly  to  the  prayer 
of  faith?  The  reverend  gentleman  must  have 
known  that  it  was  the  custom  among  the  Jews 
at  that  time  for  the  priesthood  to  anoint  the  sick 
with  oil,  and  that  the  apostle  was  merely  recog- 
nizing that  religious  ceremony,  without  caring 
to  offend  upon  a  point  which  he  may  have  con- 
sidered inconsequential.  If  he  had  considered 
the  ceremony  to  be  consequential,  he  would  surely 
have  mentioned  the  oil  when  he  declared  what 
it  is  that  saves  the  sick.  Further,  if  the  rubbing 
with  oil  had  possessed  any  healing  power,  why 
did  Jesus  never  employ  oil  in  his  healing  work? 
And  why  did  he  never  mention  either  the  oil  or 
the  Jewish  ceremony?  When  he  declared  that 
his  works  of  saving  the  sick  and  sinning  were 
the  works  of  God  the  Father,  why  did  he  add 
that  of  himself  he  could  do  nothing?  If  he  had 
confidence  in  the  curative  value  of  the  Jewish 
rite,  he  could  certainly  have  done  something  by 
rubbing  the  sick  with  oil. 

The  other  argument  presented  against  the 
healing  of  the  sick  as  a  spiritual  process  was  this : 
that  God  intends  us  to  be  healed,  and  has  pro- 
vided means  all  about  us  for  our  intelligent  use, 


i6  CHRISTIAN  science: 

in  herbs,  minerals,  etc.  For  all  Christian  believ- 
ers it  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  reply  to  this  claim 
that  Jesus  never  recommended  such  remedies, 
never  even  made  any  reference  to  them,  and 
never  employed  them.  To  this  it  may  be  added 
that  God  is  all  wise  as  well  as  loving,  and  it 
follows  that  God  would  not  have  provided  as 
remedies  anything  which  by  its  human  use  would 
lead  to  such  dire  results  as  we  all  know  are 
attendant  at  times  upon  the  use  of  drug  medica- 
tion. 

If  we  really  believe  in  the  divine  omniscience 
and  love,  how  can  we  consistently  believe  that 
God  provided  or  intended  for  our  use  such  dan- 
gerous remedies  as  many  drugs  are  admitted 
to  be?  Would  He  not  rather  have  provided 
remedies  incapable  of  injury  to  us,  and  would 
not  mankind  have  long  since  been  employing 
them,  instead  of  the  wholly  unsatisfactory  and 
often  fatal  experimentation  with  material  medi- 
cation which  history  has  chronicled?  Divine 
wisdom  does  not  need  to  blunder  in  any  way  like 
this,  and  divine  loving-kindness  surely  would 
avoid  mixing  good  and  evil  together  for  human- 
ity's use. 

Is  it  not  more  rational  to  believe  that  Jesus 
pointed  out  the  right  and  true  way  for  overcom- 
ing both  sin  and  sickness;  that  if  this  is  indeed 
the  right  and  true  way,  it  is  the  only  right  and 
true  way,  and  therefore  that  any  other  way 
is  more   or  less   dangerous  at  all  times.      The 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  IJ 

Christian  way  of  overcoming  sin  and  sickness  is 
never  attended  by  injurious  effects,  but  rather 
blesses  us  in  every  way. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  Upon  what  grounds  do 
any  doubt  that  an  all-powerful,  all-wise,  and  all- 
loving  Supreme  Being  has  provided  some  right 
and  true  way  to  relieve  human  discord,  which 
will  always  prove  a  dependable  way  if  we  under- 
stand and  obey  it?  Must  we  believe  that  there 
is  no  such  God-provided  remedy?  How  can  we 
so  believe,  if  we  believe  in  God  at  all?  Must  we 
believe  that  when  we  have  a  case  of  suffering, 
whether  from  sin  or  sickness,  we  must  wait  for 
the  symptoms  to  show  themselves,  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  experiment  with  supposed  material  reme- 
dies for  such  symptoms,  employing  remedies 
which  are  believed  to  be  capable  under  other 
conditions  of  destroying  health  and  life,  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  health  and  life?  Such 
symptoms  are  the  mere  effects  of  the  sin  and 
sickness,  and  would  it  not  be  wiser  to  deal  with 
the  cause  than  with  the  effects?  If  we  believe  in 
God's  existence,  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
He  would  intend  and  provide  for  us  nothing 
better  than  scores  of  conflicting  theories  and  con- 
tradictory remedies,  to  be  attended  by  such  a 
lamentably  small  and  discouraging  measure  of 
success  ? 

It  may  be  asked  of  those  who  believe  that  God 
has  intended  and  provided  a  sure,  right,  and  true 
way  for  overcoming  sin,  upon  what  grounds  they 


i8  CHRISTIAN  science: 

can  say  that  God  has  not  intended  and  provided 
for  us  also  a  sure,  true,  and  right  way  for  over- 
coming our  distresses,  if  we  will  only  understand 
and  obediently  employ  it.  Is  God  partial  ?  Is  He 
kinder  to  the  sinner  than  to  the  virtuous  sick  ? 

Let  us  diverge  just  here  and  consider  an  in- 
quiry which  perhaps  may  seem  to  some  no  bet- 
ter than  mere  transcendental  dreaming,  but 
which  does  not  seem  so  to  the  Christian  Scien- 
tist. Is  not  divine  Love  the  creator  of  all  that 
is  truly  beautiful?  Do  we  not  know  that  our 
deceptive  senses  can  only  convey  to  our  thoughts 
mere  appearances,  and  not  the  realities  behind 
the  appearances?  And  yet  through  even  these 
poor  senses  do  we  not  at  times  catch  such  radiant 
glimpses  of  surpassing  beauty  in  earth  and  sky 
that  our  thoughts  are  uplifted  and  inspired?  If 
behind  these  material  images  presented  to  our 
thought  through  our  senses,  if  behind  this 
simulacrum,  as  Carlyle  terms  it,  reality  is  a 
spiritual  universe,  may  we  not  rationally  sup- 
pose that  such  a  universe,  when  we  may  behold 
it,  infinitely  surpasses  all  the  splendors  of  the 
sky,  all  the  fairest  scenes  of  earth,  all  the  music 
which  has  ever  delighted  and  transported  us,  all 
the  dreams  of  artist,  sculptor,  musician,  and  poet? 
Much  in  this  material  world  oflfends  and  dis- 
gusts us.  If  we  believed  it  to  be  reality  instead  of 
phenomena,  to  be  the  eternal  verity  instead  of  a 
passing  show,  temporal  and  changing,  how  could 
we  reconcile  such  a  belief  with  an  omnipotent, 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  IQ 

all-wise,  and  perfect  Deity?  Why  should  we 
loubt  that  divine  Love  is  the  infinite  and  eternal 
artist,  sculptor,  musician,  and  poet,  and  that 
all  the  realities  of  His  universe  are  likewise  in- 
finite and  eternal,  and  of  a  surpassing  and  un- 
fading beauty?  But  to  behold  it  we  must  attain 
the  spiritual  vision  of  God's  man. 

Christian  Science  recognizes  the  statement  of 
an  eternal  truth  in  the  Scriptural  declarations 
:hat  God  is  good,  and  that  everything  which  He 
hias  made  is  'Very  good;"  not  partly  good  and 
partly  bad,  nor  sometimes  good  and  sometimes 
Dad,  but  always  'Very  good."  Take  any  of  the 
forms  or  manifestations  of  evil,  physical  disease, 
moral  disease,  or  intellectual  disease.  We  can- 
not rightly  call  any  of  them  good.  We  must 
admit  that  they  are  unlike  the  Supreme  Being, 
and  that  therefore  they  are  not  of  God;  that 
they  cannot  belong  to  God's  universe,  that  they 
nust  belong  to  the  world  which  our  multitudi- 
nous false  beliefs  create  for  us.  Inexorable  logic 
drives  us  to  this;  else  we  are  driven  to  the  un- 
hinkable  proposition  that  there  is  no  God. 

Sometimes  ecclesiasticism,  seeking  to  support 
some  dogma  or  creed,  has  tried  to  avoid  this 
dilemma  by  asserting  that  God  at  times  makes 
ase  of  evil  as  an  instrumentality  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  good.  For  example,  we  have  too 
frequently  heard  from  the  pulpits  that  sickness 
md  death  are  "mysterious  dispensations  of  di- 
s^ine    Providence,"    and   the    apology   or   excuse 


20  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

has  been  put  forward  that  God  somehow  has 
found  that  sickness  and  death,  though  accounted 
to  be  evil,  help  to  educate  and  discipline  man- 
kind into  being  better.  Even  this  text,  ''Whom 
the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,"  has  been  used 
as  if  the  word  chasten  only  meant  to  chastise, 
instead  of  to  make  chaste  or  pure.  Let  us  ask 
those  who  have  accepted  this  ecclesiastical  ex- 
planation in  a  perfunctory  sort  of  way,  and  with- 
out giving  it  any  careful  thought,  whether  it  does 
not  involve  a  really  irreverent  concept  to  affirm 
that  the  Supreme  Being,  who  is  infinite  good, 
who  is  omnipotent  and  all  wise,  needs  to  employ 
anything  which  is  not  absolutely  good  in  order, 
in  His  divine  economy,  to  govern  men  aright? 
Does  not  the  teaching  of  that  sort  of  a  self-con- 
tradictory deity  directly  tend  to  breed  atheism 
and  religious  doubt  and  despair? 

It  may  be  admitted  that  in  the  realm  of  human 
belief  suffering  sometimes  tends  to  purify,  as  it 
sometimes  tends  to  harden,  the  sinner,  and  one 
can  see  how  this  circumstance  has  led  ecclesiasti- 
cism,  in  its  efforts  to  support  the  dogma  that 
sickness  and  other  phases  of  evil  are  a  part  of 
the  truths  of  being,  and  therefore  of  God,  to  mis- 
take one  of  the  movements  of  human  belief  for 
a  supposed  movement  of  divine  intelligence;  but 
this  is  disorderly  reasoning.  God  is  absolute 
good,  and  therefore  must  be,  as  the  Bible  declares, 
of  too  pure  eyes  to  behold  iniquity.  When  one 
human  statement  contradicts  and  undoes  another 


t 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  21 

human  statement,  the  process  is  evidently  human 
and  not  divine. 

It  is  in  the  reahii  of  human  beUef  that  error  is 
followed  by  retribution,  and  that  retribution 
teaches  the  folly  of  error.  In  the  realm  of 
eternal  truths  all  is  harmonious  and  nothing 
discordant.  Eternal  truth  can  have  no  recog- 
nition of  error  or  retribution  or  folly.  Human 
error  and  retribution  belong  to  the  ^'things  seen,'' 
which  are  temporal  and  form  no  part  of  the 
"things  not  seen,"  which  are  eternal.  If  discord- 
ant conditions  could  become  a  part  of  things 
eternal,  there  would  be  no  things  eternal,  for 
all  discord  is  destructive.  Human  error  and 
retribution,  because  of  their  nature,  are  neces- 
sarily transitory,  and  no  part  of  the  eternal 
order  of  things.  They  are  man-made,  not  God- 
made,  and  hence  no  part  of  reality,  which  is 
eternal  and,  therefore,  unchanging. 

At  this  point  the  critic  may  attempt  to  make 
an  inconsistency  appear.  He  may  say  that  he 
cannot  see  how  it  can  be  that  the  works  of  over- 
coming sin  and  sickness  are  the  works  of  God, 
if  God  be  of  too  pure  eyes  to  behold  them.  Un- 
der analysis,  however,  this  criticism  is  discovered 
to  be  untenable.  It  is  made  from  the  view-point 
of  an  anthropomorphic  Supreme  Being.  The 
works  of  overcoming  sin,  sickness,  all  discord- 
ant human  conditions,  are  accomplished  under 
the  operation  of  the  eternal  laws  of  God.  These 
are  the  laws  of  Life,  Truth,  Love,   and  hence 


22  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

the  phenomena  of  sin,  sickness,  and  death,  all 
disharmony,  must  disappear  under  their  opera- 
tion. To  suppose  that  the  ''great  Physician,'' 
who  ''healeth  all  thy  diseases"  and  ''forgiveth  all 
thine  iniquities,"  by  one  and  the  same  process, 
under  the  operation  of  divine  law,  comes  into 
the  sick-room  like  a  doctor,  to  experiment  with 
some  drug;  or,  that  He  comes  to  His  children 
whip  in  hand,  Hke  an  irate  schoolmaster  when 
he  discovers  that  his  pupil  has  transgressed  the 
rules, — all  this  is  but  a  false  anthropomorphic 
concept. 

.  Christian  Science  teaches  that  God's  man 
neither  sins  nor  suffers.  The  real  man  is  har- 
monious, not  discordant;  the  false,  material  sense 
of  man  is  by  nature  abnormal  and  inharmonious. 
It  is  unthinkable  that  the  Supreme  Being  has 
ordained  any  law  under  whose  operation  men 
sicken  and  sin;  such  laws  would  be  wholly  un- 
like God,  and  there  can  be  no  laws  of  God's  uni- 
verse apart  and  distinct  from  the  laws  of  God. 
God  is  Spirit ;  and  His  laws  are  likewise  spiritual 
and  perfect.  The  supposed  laws  under  which  we 
sin  and  suffer  do  not  exist  in  truth  and  reality, 
hence  Jesus  offered  the  only  true  remedy  when 
he  declared,  *'The  truth  shall  make  you  free." 

Christian  Science  strikes  at  the  causes  of  sin 
and  discord,  which  are  to  be  found  in  erro- 
neous thinking  and  beliefs.  If  we  remove  the 
cause,  effects  are  more  likely  to  disappear  than 
when  we  deal   with  the  effects  themselves  and 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  23 

fail  to  deal  with  their  cause.  Suppose  fear,  hate, 
or  grief  has  made  a  man  sick;  can  we  destroy 
fear  or  hate  or  grief  by  putting  pills  into  his 
mouth?  We  must  employ  a  spiritual  remedy, 
not  a  material  remedy;  else  our  remedial  efforts 
cannot  possibly  be  more  than  transient  and  in- 
effectual in  their  results.  The  Christian  Science 
practitioner  diagnoses  his  cases;  but  he  does  not 
diagnose  them  in  respect  to  their  classification 
as  mere  physical  symptoms  and  effects.  There 
can  really  be  no  such  arbitrary  classification 
which  is  strictly  scientific,  even  from  the  view- 
point of  materia  medica. 

Any  well-informed  physician  will  concede,  for 
example,  that  no  two  cases  of  the  same  disease 
which  he  diagnoses  are  precisely  the  same  in  any 
two  of  his  patients.  He  will  declare  that  the  cases 
differ  because  patients  differ  physically  and  men- 
tally ;  and  further  that  no  two  patients  can  prop- 
erly be  doctored  alike  according  to  his  system.  He 
can  only  experiment  and  cautiously  feel  his  way, 
governing  his  experimental  medication  and  fre- 
quently changing  it  altogether,  according  to  what 
he  conjectures  from  the  symptoms. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Christian  Science  prac- 
titioner diagnoses  the  case  of  his  individual  pa- 
tient from  the  view-point  of  the  mental  or  moral 
cause  of  his  ailment.  If  he  thus  diagnoses  cor- 
rectly, he  has  ascertained  the  cause,  and  then 
deals  with  the  case  accordingly.  He  finds  that 
the  same  mental  or  moral  cause  may  manifest 


24  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE! 

its  effects  or  symptoms  differently  in  different 
persons;  in  one  patient  in  rheumatism,  and  in 
another  patient  in  fever,  for  example,  but  the 
same  mental  or  moral  cause  is  to  be  dealt  with, 
rather  than  mere  symptoms.  Thus  the  Christian 
Science  practitioner  finds  how  applicable  to  many 
cases  were  the  words  of  Jesus,  when  he  said  to 
a  certain  sick  man,  ''Take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk,'' 
which  meant  precisely  the  same  as  his  previous 
words,  ''Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.''  To  remove 
the  sin  or  the  fear  is  to  deal  scientifically  with 
the  symptoms  or  effects. 

It  ought  not  to  be  overlooked,  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  the  well-informed  physician  is  wont 
to  state  that  the  large  majority  of  s^'ck  persons 
would  get  w^ell  anyway.  This  is  often  because  of 
what  may  be  observed  in  nearly  every  sick-room, 
namely,  something  which  tends  to  restore  health. 
The  medical  profession  has  crystallized  its  obser- 
vations along  this  line  into  the  Latin  phrase 
vis  medicatrix  naturce;  which  means,  the  restora- 
tive power  of  nature.  Christian  Science  would 
make  it  read,  vis  medicatrix  Dei;  which  means, 
the  restorative  power  of  God,  who  is  divine  Prin- 
ciple, Life,  Truth,  Love.  Yet  another  reason 
may  be  given  why  a  large  majority  of  sick  per- 
sons would  get  well  anyway;  viz.,  because  in 
such  cases  the  mental  or  moral  provocative  or 
exciting  cause  of  the  sickness  has  passed.  The 
fear  or  the  grief  or  the  hate,  etc.,  has  either 
passed,  or  become  far  less  intense. 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  25 

These  are  the  cases  which  the  drug  physician 
diagnoses  as  merely  acute  or  functional;  but  it 
is  found  that  there  is  another  class  of  cases,  and 
the  drug  physician  classifies  them  as  organic, 
and  many  of  them  as  incurable.  Why  is  this? 
Jesus  proved  that  there  were  no  incurable  sick- 
nesses. Christian  Science  explains  this.  In  the 
organic  and  incurable  diseases  of  the  drug  physi- 
cian the  mental  or  moral  cause  of  the  sickness 
has  not  passed,  but  remains  active  and  pernicious. 
Drugs  cannot  deal  with  mental  or  moral  causes, 
but  the  Christ  way  of  healing  the  sick  deals  with 
them  directly.  As  a  man  thinketh,  so  is  he.  As 
Jesus  taught  and  proved:  'It  is  the  spirit  that 
quickeneth.'' 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  the  various  men- 
tal and  moral  conditions  which  make  for  sin, 
sickness,  etc.,  on  the  one  hand,  or  which  make 
for  health  and  harmony,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
not  wholly  confined  to  the  individual  who  mani- 
fests their  effects.  Many  a  person  gets  sick,  for 
example,  because  he  is  environed  by  sick  thoughts 
and  beliefs.  Many  a  person's  restoration  to 
health  is  retarded,  and  sometimes  prevented,  by 
an  unhealthy  mental  and  moral  atmosphere  about 
him.  Gloom,  discouragement,  persistent  sorrow, 
and  so  on,  are  always  pernicious  presences  in 
the  chamber  of  the  sick.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  also  a  matter  of  common  observation  that 
cheerfulness,  hope,  and  their  like,  are  very  useful. 

Let  one  who  is  ordinarily  sympathetic  and  re- 


26  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE*. 

ceptive  meet  some  person  whose  merry  counte- 
nance manifests  a  merry  heart,  and  his  own  face 
quickly  begins  to  relax  its  rigid  lines.  Many  men 
and  women  are  mental  and  moral  sunbeams,  who 
radiate  something  of  their  joyousness  to  all  they 
meet.  But  go  into  the  presence  of  one  who  is 
sunk  in  the  depths  of  despondency  or  abiding 
grief,  or  who  is  storm-tossed  on  the  waves  of 
anger,  and  you  are  liable  to  come  to  some  extent 
under  the  same  conditions.  Every  great  battle 
that  has  ensanguined  the  page  of  human  history, 
every  political  campaign,  every  religious  "revi- 
val,'' in  short,  every  period  of  any  great  popular 
excitement,  shows  that  one  human  mind  may  be 
most  powerfully  affected  by  another  human  mind. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  Christian  Science  so 
insistently  warns  us  to  beware  of  thinking  and 
of  talking  sickness.  It  is  because  we  thus  en- 
danger our  homes,  our  friends,  and  others,  as 
well  as  ourselves.  Immoral  thinking  and  talking 
are  likewise  to  be  avoided. 

Christian  Science  teaches  us  how  to  guard  our- 
selves against  such  perilous  influences.  It  teaches 
us  to  maintain  at  all  times,  and  under  all  con- 
ditions, an  absolute  reliance  upon  the  ever-pro- 
tecting care  of  divine  Love.  It  teaches  us  to 
maintain  a  cheerful  and  serene  attitude  of  think- 
ing and  consciousness  everywhere  and  always.  It 
teaches  us  a  consistent,  rational,  and  jov-inspirine: 
religious  philosophv  as  a  sure  foundation  for 
an  attitude  of  abiding  optimism  and  faith.   -  It 


i 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  2/ 

teaches  us  that  whether  we  are  smihng  in  the 
sunshine  or  sorrowing  in  the  shadows,  that  what- 
ever successes  or  whatever  disappointments,  dan- 
gers, or  disasters  may  seem  to  visit  our  mortal 
lives,  that  however  our  earthly  fortunes  may 
seem  to  prosper  or  to  decay,  still  we  should  find 
humility,  gratitude,  cheerfulness,  trust,  joy  in 
the  abiding  consciousness  that  behind  all  the 
transitory  appearances  of  mortal  existence  is  the 
eternal  good,  and  over  all  a  Father  of  unlimited 
loving-kindness.  Even  greater  than  the  deliver- 
ance from  bodily  ills  through  the  blessed  Christ, 
Truth,  are  the  understanding,  incentives,  and 
ideals  which  this  brings  to  us.  Such  is  the  glad 
and  grateful  testimony  which  has  now  awakened 
a  pean  of  praise  and  rejoicing  over  all  the  earth. 

Into  what  a  hopeless  labyrinth  of  wretched 
wandering  have  those  come  into  whose  lives  the 
truth  of  being  has  never  shone.  Wealth  and  all 
that  wealth  can  purchase  may  be  theirs,  rank  and 
power  may  be  theirs,  their  mouths  may  be  filled 
with  the  fruit  of  selfish  gratification,  but  if  they 
have  no  satisfying  religious  philosophy  they  have 
wholly  missed  the  happier  pathways  of  living, 
and  they  must  continue  to  cry  out,  *^AII  is  vanity 
and  vexation  of  spirit!"  We  show  our  love  for 
our  Father  by  manifesting  loving  thoughts, 
words,  and  deeds  toward  His  children.  The 
sense  of  having  performed  a  loving  act  of  kind- 
ness, the  sense  of  having  faithfully  met  and  per- 
formed  some   duty   toward   another,    these   and 


28  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

their  like  assist  us  toward  human  feHcity.  Self- 
ishness is  the  sure  tendency  of  atheistic  and  ma- 
terialistic belief,  and  the  children  of  selfishness 
are  sure  to  retrogress  into  lower  levels.  Hu- 
manity needs  true  religious  ideals,  aspirations,  * 
and  incentives,  to  beckon  it  forward  and  upward. 

Christian  Science  recognizes  the  statement  of 
an  eternal  truth  in  the  Scriptural  declaration  that 
God  is  Life.  This  means,  of  course,  that  God  is 
the  life-creating  and  life-sustaining  divine  Prin- 
ciple of  the  universe.  This  explains  the  tendency 
toward  health  and  harmony  to  which  reference 
has  been  made.  Are  not  all  the  laws  of  disease 
and  death  which  have  been  enacted  in  human 
beliefs,  and  which  are  so  heterogeneous  and  in- 
consistent, irreconcilably  in  conflict  with  this 
primal  truth  that  God  is  the  life-creating  and  life- 
sustaining  divine  Principle?  Do  the  supposed 
laws  of  disease  and  death  act  in  harmony  with  and 
are  they  obedient  to  this  primal  truth?  Rather,  if 
there  were  in  truth  such  laws,  if  they  possessed 
any  power  outside  of  human  belief,  would  they 
not  always  operate  in  opposition  to  the  purposes 
of  divine  Life? 

Can  one  rationally  conceive  that  God  could 
have  ordained  laws  of  disease  and  death  to  in- 
terfere with,  and  even  to  defeat.  His  manifes- 
tation and  maintenance  of  life?  Is  not  the 
Christian  Science  teaching  far  more  rational,  that 
these  supposed  laws  of  disease  and  death  must 
be  relegated  to  the  realm  of  erring  human  belief? 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  29 

Do  we  not  recognize  that  there  is  such  a  reahn 
when  we  recognize  false  human  opinions  or  be- 
liefs of  any  kind?  If  laws  of  disease  and  death, 
)r  of  any  other  phase  of  evil,  were  a  part  of 
God's  government,  would  they  not  be  laws  of 
liscord,  instead  of  harmony,  and  would  Jesus 
liave  sought  to  defeat  them,  or  would  he  have 
lenominated  his  successes  in  defeating  them  to 
je  the  works  of  God?  If,  however,  these  laws 
have  their  origin,  like  other  falsehoods,  in  human 
reliefs,  then  we  see  the  practical  and  rational 
3asis  for  the  promise  of  Jesus  that  the  truth 
will  make  us  free. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the  many  curious 
ways  in  which  our  false  beliefs  come  to  be 
formed  and  nurtured,  and  often  to  become  petri- 
fied falsehoods,  but  it  is  well  to  consider  the 
now  prevalent  false  belief  that  the  various  phases 
3f  evil,  inclusive  of  physical  sickness,  are  a  part 
3f  the  law  of  God,  to  discipline  mankind  into 
oeing  better,  although  Christian  Scientists  unite 
in  witnessing  that  the  Christian  healing  which 
Jesus  promised  and  commended  to  his  followers 
annot  be  successfully  achieved  until  this  false 
!3elief  is  wholly  destroyed.  The  origin  of  this 
false  belief  is  historical.  We  find  it  proven  by 
indisputable  historical  evidence  that  not  only  did 
Jesus  and  his  immediate  disciples  and  followers 
tieal  the  sick,  but  that  such  healing  was  likewise 
;l  successfully  accomplished  during  the  first  three 
7  :enturies,  and  even  into  the  first  few  decades  of 


30  CHRISTIAN  science: 

the  fourth  century.  Then  began  the  rapid  deca- 
dence of  the  Christian  heahng  which  has  given 
occasion  for  the  question  sometimes  asked:  If 
true  and  dependable,  why  has  the  Christian  way 
of  heahng  the  sick  passed  into  practical  disuse 
throughout  Christendom  for  some  sixteen  cen-< 
turies  ?  | 

Coincident  in  point  of  time  with  the  beginning 
of  the  disuse  of  Christan  healing,  history  shows 
us  that  vast  numbers  of  Greek  and  Roman  con- 
verts followed  the  Roman  emperor  Constantine 
into  the  ranks  of  Christianity.  Those  converts 
had  been  taught  polytheism, — that  there  were 
some  good  deities  and  some  evil  deities,  and  that 
to  their  evil  deities  were  to  be  ascribed  the  va- 
rious ills  which  afflict  humanity,  among  them 
being  sickness,  death,  etc.  When  they  were  con- 
verted to  Christian  monotheism  they  brought 
with  them  their  belief  in  the  deific  origin  of  evil, 
and  to  the  one  true  God  they  ascribed  the  causa- 
tion of  all  human  ills,  and  this  doctrine  has  per- 
sisted until  the  advent  of  Christian  Science.  Our 
arts  and  literature  owe  a  very  great  debt  to 

The  glory  that  was  Greece, 

And  the  grandeur  that  was  Rome, 

but  the  baneful  dogma  that  sickness  and  death 
are  "mysterious  dispensations  of  divine  Provi- 
dence" is  also  largely  to  be  traced  to  Greek  and 
Roman  mythology. 

Christian    Science    declares    that    the    time    is 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  3 1 

:oming  when  all  Christian  believers  will  gladly 
recognize  that  it  is  both  their  privilege  and  their 
duty  to  obey  the  command  to  preach  the  gospel 
and  heal  the  sick;  but  they  also  recognize  that 
this  time  cannot  arrive  so  long  as  men  persist 
in  retaining  the  dogmatic  teaching  that  sickness 
and  other  forms  of  evil  are  by  divine  appoint- 
ment. The  truth  makes  us  free  only  as  we  un- 
derstand that  the  discords  we  seek  to  be  delivered 
from  are  not  of  God,  and  that  therefore  they  are 
not  a  part  of  the  truth  of  being. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  powerful  in- 
fluences upon  the  body  which  are  wrought  by  a 
person's  mentality.  We  may  observe  them  every 
day.  Anger  flushes  the  face,  inflames  the  eye- 
balls, etc.  Fear  can  suddenly  spoil  the  appetite, 
whiten  the  hair  in  a  night,  and  even  stop  instan- 
taneously the  pulsations  of  the  heart.  Business 
worries  and  domestic  discords  show  themselves 
physically  in  many  ways,  and  frequently  bring 
people  to  premature  graves.  The  description  of 
jealousy  as  ''the  green-eyed  monster,''  is  not  a 
mere  poetic  extravagance,  as  sometimes  supposed, 
but  is  based  on  a  literal  fact ;  for  it  has  been  found 
that  a  protracted  spell  of  jealousy  actually  gives 
the  skin  under  the  eyes  a  greenish  tint.  Chemical 
experiments  have  proved  that  anger  and  other 
baneful  passions  so  greatly  alter  the  breath  and 
the  excretions  of  the  body  that  chemists  have 
pronounced  them  to  be  poisonous. 

Of  course,  the  secretions  of  the  body  must 


32  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE  I 

be  changed  first,  before  the  excretions  can  be 
changed.  A  few  years  ago  the  question  was 
sometimes  asked  in  a  lofty  sort  of  way  by  some 
of  the  drug  physicians,  ''How  can  mere  thinking 
or  mere  mental  conditions  change  the  secretions 
and  excretions  of  the  body,  and  thus  overcome  its 
discordant  conditions?"  and  they  complacently' 
continued  to  dose  with  drugs,  notwithstanding 
the  manifest  effects  of  the  remedies  which  they 
administered  were  sometimes  worse  than  the  ail- 
ments. Every-day  life  proves  that  good  thinking 
benefits  us  in  all  ways,  the  physical  included,  just 
as  wrong  thinking  harms  us  in  all  ways;  and 
every-day  life  also  shows  that  our  good  think- 
ing and  our  bad  thinking  influence  and  affect 
those  about  us  as  well  as  ourselves. 

Upon  what  basis  can  any  one  seek  to  measure, 
or  limit  these  influences  and  effects  of  right  think- 1 
ing?     Has  the  circumference  ever  been  pointed' 
out  or  proven?     Is  it  not  an  unproven  assertion 
to  say  that  they  may  reach  and  overcome  sinful 
tendencies,   and  may   also   reach  and   overcome 
some  bodily  ailments,  but  that  they  cannot  reach 
and  overcome  all  of  them?    All  the  proof  stands 
the  other  way,  and  this  proof  is  furnished  abun- 
dantly in  the  New  Testament,  in  the  history  of  the 
earlier  days  of  Christianity,  and  it  is  still  being 
furnished  throughout  Christendom.     Are  not  ac- 
■complished  facts  to  be  trusted  rather  than,  mere 
theories  of  denial  and  negation?     Theories  of 
denial  and  negation  have  always  interposed  them- 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  33 

elves  against  every  forward  step  of  humanity; 
hey  are  not  based  on  facts  or  evidence,  but  upon 
)reconceived  opinions  and  old  habits  of  beHef. 

Christian  Science  appeals  to  proven  facts. 
These  facts  and  their  evidence  now  encircle  the 
;lobe.  They  constitute  a  mass  of  evidence  such 
s  was  never  arrayed  in  any  court-room  on  earth. 
t  is  not  hearsay  evidence,  not  mere  theory  or 
)pinion,  but  it  comes  direct  from  unnumbered 
vitnesses  in  this  and  other  lands  as  the  expression 
)f  their  personal  experiences.  Facts  are  the  irre- 
istible  weapons  of  truth.  Theories,  especially 
hose  of  mere  denial,  have  always  been  deceiving 
md  misleading  mankind.  The  proven  facts  of 
lealing  cover  "all  manner  of  sickness  and  all 
nanner  of  disease,"  as  well  as  vicious  habits  and 
iiiful  tendencies.  These  facts  and  those  of  the 
\^ew  Testament  are  mutually  corroborative,  and 
bis  means  a  very  great  deal  to  basic  Christianity, 
vhatever  the  effects  upon  denominational  creeds 
md  dogmas. 

The  critic  of  Christian  Science  is  apt  to  be 
iddicted  to  the  microscopic  rather  than  the  tele- 
icopic  view,  and  may  seek  to  discredit  Christian 
Science  because  some  Christian  Science  practi- 
ioner  has  not  been  able  to  achieve  the  full  meas- 
ire  of  success  which  was  attained  by  Christ 
esus.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 
ve  do  not  claim  to  have  attained  the  understand- 
ng  and  obedience  which  were  manifested  by 
esus.    What  we  do  claim  is  that  we  have  proven 


34  CHRISTIAN  science: 

that  the  Christian  way  of  heaUng  the  sick  is 
true  and  dependable,  and  that  even  one  indubi- 
table instance  of  success  in  following  the  rule 
in  the  Christian  way  of  healing  proves  the  rule 
to  be  true  and  trustworthy,  just  as  even  one  in- 
dubitable instance  of  adding  or  multiplying  fig- 
ures under  an  arithmetical  rule  proves  the  rule  to 
be  true  and  trustworthy. 

We  claim  further  that  the  evidence  shows  that 
our  successes  are  so  great  and  abundant  as  com- 
pared with  the  failures  or  semi  failures,  that  the 
restored  Christian  method  of  healing  has  not 
only  accomplished  a  grand  humanitarian  work 
already,  but  has  shown  itself  to  be  far  more 
dependable  and  practical .  than  any  other  method. 
Would  any  one  say  that  railroad  transportation 
is  not  a  proven  success  because  now  and  then 
there  is  a  derailment  of  a  train?  Would  it  not 
be  far  better  to  seek  to  improve  the  practical 
service  ? 

Jesus  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  evidential 
value  of  his  healing  works  when  he  said,  "Though 
ye  believe  not  me,  believe  the  works."  Thus  the 
evidential  value  of  healing  works  is  shown  by 
the  extraordinary  growth  and  development  of  the 
Christian  Science  movement.  It  has  had  to  meet 
and  overcome  many  obstacles.  Its  followers  have 
needed  a  great  amount  of  patience,  charity,  cour- 
age, faithfulness,  and  faith.  Yet  how  could  it 
fail  of  success  when  its  followers  are  made  up 
of  those  to  whom  its  teachings  have  been  demon- 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  35 

strated  in  their  own  lives  and  homes  to  be  true  and 
dependable,  while  its  opponents  are  made  up  of 
those  who  base  their  opposition,  not  upon  the 
evidence,  but  upon  former  opinions,  beliefs,  and 
prejudices? 

Its  breadth  of  view  and  its  practicability  are 
shown  by  the  fact  that  Christian  Science  appeals 
alike  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  people.  The 
common  laborer,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant,  the 
farmer,  the  banker,  the  lawyer,  the  former 
clergyman,  the  former  drug  physician, — all  these 
find  in  its  teachings  and  practice  what  they  need. 
It  may  here  be  asked  if  there  will  be  a  peculiar 
class  of  reasoners  in  the  future  who  will  gravely 
urge  that  the  Christian  Scientists  of  this  early 
part  of  the  twentieth  century  must  have  believed 
in  drug  medication,  from  the  fact  that  a  physi- 
cian who  practised  drug  medication  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  is  not  only  a  leading  adherent  of 
but  also  an  authorized  lecturer  upon  Christian 
Science. 

This  would  be  on  a  par  with  the  supposed 
argument  assailing  the  Christian  healing  of  the 
sick  in  the  day  of  Jesus,  because  Luke  is  men- 
tioned as  *'the  beloved  physician."  It  is  not 
shown  that  Luke  practised  medicine  after  he  be- 
came a  follower  of  the  humble  Nazarene,  nor 
that  he  or  Jesus  ever  made  use  of  or  even  re- 
ferred to  material  remedies;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  Luke,  like  Jesus,  healed  by  methods 
wholly  non-physical.     The  critic  of  the  future 


36  CHRISTIAN  science: 

could  make  out  a  much  stronger  case,  because  in 
addition  to  the  above-mentioned  physician  he 
could  cite  the  fact  that  several  scores  of  former 
drug  doctors  have  become  Christian  Scientists  of 
recognized  standing. 

We  admit  that  there  are  many  things  which 
appear  to  our  physical  senses  to  be  inconsistent 
with  our  spiritual  intuition  and  our  highest  rea- 
son that  the  Supreme  Being  must  be  infinite  Life, 
Truth,  Love,  and  infinite  good,  but  we  cannot 
compromise  our  beliefs  along  these  lines.  Here 
is  a  gulf  which  cannot  be  bridged.  Ought  we  not 
as  rational  beings  to  doubt  the  conflicting  mean- 
ings which  men  often  draw  from  the  testimony 
of  physical  sense,  when  such  meanings  deny  or 
discredit  the  Supreme  Being? 

Jesus  said,  "Have  faith  in  God."  These  words 
imply  that  God  is  always  worthy  of  our  absolute 
trust  in  His  protecting  power  and  wisdom.  Jesus 
proved  by  his  works  that  all  his  words  were 
true.  He  declared  that  it  is  done  unto  us  ac- 
cording to  our  faith.  He  proved  that  faith  is 
more  than  a  mere  opinion  or  belief,  and  that  it 
is  a  positive  force  in  our  lives.  On  several  oc- 
casions when  he  healed  the  sick  he  spoke  of  faith 
as  a  powerful  curative  agency.  On  at  least  one 
of  these  occasions  he  said,  "Thy  faith  hath  made 
thee  whole."  When  we  have  faith,  or  absolute 
trust  in  God,  who  is  infinite,  eternal,  universal 
good,  our  worries  and  fears,  our  discords  of  every 
kind  disappear  from  our  thoughts  and  conscious- 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  37 

ness.     The  mortal  mind  and  body  work  together 
as  a  unit. 

As  we  come  to  have  more  faith  in  God  we 
thereby  come  to  have  a  surer  understanding  and 
i  reahzation  that  all  which  seems  to  be  evil  is  not 
I  of  God,  and  that  the  distempered  beliefs  which 
j  have  come  to  us  do  so  just  as  a  false  view  of 
objects  comes  to  us  if  we  wear  colored  spectacles. 
Thus,  according  to  our  faith  in  God's  omnipo- 
tence and  love,  all  discordant  mental  conditions 
are  recognized  by  us  to  be  mere  negations,  or 
the  suppositional  absence  of  good ;  and  when  the 
human  mind  is  no  longer  discordant  the  body 
begins  at  once  to  manifest  harmony.  This  is 
the  divine  alterative,  or  divine  truth-cure,  as 
Jesus  taught  and  demonstrated,  and  as  Christian 
Science  is  today  engaged  in  teaching  and  demon- 
strating. 

We  pray  according  to  our  faith  in  God.  Wisely 
did  one  of  the  immediate  disciples  of  Jesus  de- 
clare that   "the  prayer  of   faith  shall  save  the 
sick."     The  disciple  w^as  not  giving  to  the  world 
his  mere  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  power  and 
efficacy  of  the  prayer  of  faith.    He  was  speaking 
of  what  he  had  seen  done  in  the  ministry  of 
Jesus   and   his    followers.      When   we  postulate 
God  and  realize  that  we  are  His  children,  it  fol- 
,  lows  that  there  must  be  some  means  of  com- 
I  munion  between  man   and   God   and  that  such 
..  communion  is  not  useless.      Can  you  think  of 
any  other  way  than  prayer  by   which  we  can 


38  CHRISTIAN    science: 

commune  with  our  divine  Parent?  Must  it  not 
be  the  inevitable  effect  of  such  communion  that 
we  chmb  to  nobler  and  purer  altitudes  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood;  that  we  cast  aside  our 
falsehoods  and  immoralities,  our  fears,  our 
hatreds,  our  animality,  more  and  more? 

We  never  truly  pray  to  God  except  when  we 
pray  with  absolute  faith,  that  is,  with  full  trust- 
fulness in  Him.  Thus  only  can  we  truly  pray: 
''Not  my  will,  but  thine,  be  done.''  True  prayer 
is  not  a  selfish  or  egotistic  effort  to  change  God's 
intentions,  or  to  better  any  of  God's  ways  in  deal- 
ing with  us  or  with  others.  God's  intentions  can 
neither  be  altered  nor  bettered.  Prayer  alters 
and  betters  us.  The  more  we  commune  with 
the  only  true  God,  through  the  prayer  of  faith 
in  Him,  the  more  closely  do  we  commune  with 
divine  Truth,  and  receive  into  our  consciousness 
the  divine  thought,  the  truth  which  Jesus  prom- 
ised shall  make  us  free.  But  if  we  commune  in 
prayer  with  a  being  whom  we  erroneously  be- 
lieve to  be  the  author  of  discords,  sickness,  want, 
and  death,  are  we  not  then  communing,  to  that 
extent,  with  falsehood? 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Christian  way  of 
healing  the  sick  should  have  passed  into  disre- 
pute during  so  many  centuries,  or  that  those 
pulpits  which  persist  in  entertaining  an  anthropo- 
morphic concept  of  the  Supreme  Being  look 
unbelievingly  upon  the  practical  works  in  the 
Christian  healing  of  the  sick  which  are  being  ac- 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  39 

complished.  The  works  of  Jesus  and  his  followers, 
in  his  day,  were  thus  regarded  by  the  established 
religionists  who  denied  and  persecuted  him. 
Even  their  hatred  was  aroused,  because  they 
looked  upon  his  teachings  and  especially  upon 
their  accompanying  works  as  a  rebuke  to  them. 
This  regrettable  trait  in  human  nature  has  not 
displayed  itself  in  religious  concerns  only.  When 
Harvey,  the  English  physician,  three  hundred 
years  ago,  announced  his  discovery  of  the  circu- 
lation of  the  blood,  he  encountered  so  much  ridi- 
cule and  enmity  from  the  medical  profession  that 
from  a  lucrative  London  practice  he  was  reduced 
to  poverty.  And  this  is  but  one  of  the  numerous 
instances  in  history  which  justify  the  remark 
of  Emerson,  that  every  forward  step  in  human 
progress  is  first  represented  by  the  few  and  for 
a  long  time  by  the  minority.  But  generations 
pass,  and  the  false  is  ultimately  found  to  be  self- 
destructive  and  transitory,  while  truth  prevails, 
being  eternal  in  its  essence  and  qualities. 

The  most  of  us  have  been  educated  along 
materialistic  lines  of  thinking.  Many  may  find 
it  easy  to  comprehend  how  one  material  object 
can  aflfect  another  material  object,  but  they  find 
it  more  or  less  difficult  to  comprehend  how  one's 
thoughts  can  be  dynamic  in  their  eflfects  on  the 
human  body ;  and  prevailing  notions  in  respect  to 
God  are  often  so  vague,  often  so  erroneous,  that 
many  fail  to  comprehend  the  reasonableness  of 
the  declaration  of  Jesus  that  the  works  of  over- 


40  CHRISTIAN  science: 

coming  sin,  sickness,  and  death  are  the  works  of 
our  eternal  Father.  Cumulative  experiences  have, 
moreover,  abundantly  shown  in  the  Christian 
Science  movement  that  the  understanding  comes 
surely,  however  slowly,  to  all  who  patiently  study 
our  text-book,  ''Science  and  Health  with  Key  to 
the  Scriptures''  by  Mrs.  Eddy,  in  a  truth-loving 
and  unbiased  mental  attitude,  and  who  seek  ear- 
nestly to  prove  as  they  learn  step  by  step,  and  thus 
to  hold  fast  what  they  find  to  be  good. 

Suppose  one  desires  to  learn  about  wireless 
telegraphy,  which  only  a  few  years  ago  was 
scouted  at  as  an  absurdity,  even  by  many  edu- 
cated electricians.  He  will  find  that  wireless 
telegraphy  is  now  a  proven  fact,  and  that  as  he 
follows  the  rules  the  desired  results  are  sure  to 
follow.  He  will  also  find  many  things,  the  rea- 
son for  which  may  appear  to  be  more  or  less 
mysterious  and  elusive;  he  may  find  his  sense  of 
the  probable  frequently  outraged.  He  may  find 
that  the  very  electricity  with  which  he  is  dealing, 
and  which  is  accomplishing  indubitable  practical 
results,  is  so  much  of  a  mystery  that  those  who 
are  supposed  to  know  the  most  about  it,  like 
Tesla  and  Marconi  and  Edison,  freely  admit  that 
they  cannot  explain  even  what  electricity  is. 

Let  us  here  note  a  specific  illustration.  In 
wireless  telegraphy  what  is  called  the  receiving 
instrument  must  be  harmonized  or  attuned  to 
what  is  called  the  sending  instrument,  and  the 
receiving  instrument  which  is  so  harmonized  re- 


ITS    RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  4I 

ceives  the  message.  The  sensible  telegrapher  acts 
upon  this  demonstrated  rule,  although  many 
mysteries  in  the  electrical  phenomenon  with  which 
he  deals  still  remain  unexplained.  The  Christian 
Scientist  has  learned  from  actual  experience  that 
he  must  attune  himself  to  divine  Truth,  and  that 
the  prayer  of  faith,  the  prayer  of  perfect  trust 
in  eternal  Life,  Truth,  Love,  is  the  process  by 
which  he  is  thus  attuned.  He  has  learned  that  he 
needs  to  do  something  himself  in  order  to  come 
into  touch  with  the  truth  which  delivers  and 
makes  him  free.  In  humility  he  recognizes  that 
his  human  intelligence  may  not  grasp  ♦all  the 
mysteries  of  the  processes  which  belong  to  infi- 
nite intelligence;  that  he  sometimes  sees  as 
"through  a  glass,  darkly ;"  but  he  is  always  grate- 
fully ready  to  attest  the  blessings  he  has  received, 
like  the  blind  man  who,  when  his  sight  was  re- 
stored to  him  by  Jesus,  exclaimed  that  he  knew 
that,  whereas  he  had  been  blind  from  his  birth, 
now  he  could  see. 

The  Christian  Scientist  was  taught  that  a  great 
effort  must  be  put  forth  in  order  to  achieve  a 
great  result,  but  he  has  learned  that  the  works 
of  God,  which  Jesus  taught  and  proved,  are 
achieved  by  great  power  and  not  by  a  great  ef- 
fort. Christian  Science  affirms,  and  has  repeat- 
edly proven,  that  God's  law  is  the  infinitely  great 
power  which  is  sufficient  to  overcome  all  forms 
of  human  discord.  It  is  by  no  human  effort 
except  that  of  harmonizing  ourselves  to  God's 


42  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

law,  by  getting  rid  of  our  false  beliefs,  just  as 
we  walk  out  of  the  darkness  if  we  wish  the 
benefits  of  the  sunlight.  The  sunlight  awaits 
us,  but  we  must  avail  ourselves  of  it;  divine 
Truth  awaits  us,  but  we  must  avail  ourselves  of 
it.  We  can  invent  for  ourselves  all  sorts  of 
false  beliefs,  just  as  we  can  shut  ourselves  up 
in  darkness,  if  we  choose  to  do  so.  Ignorance 
is  false  belief,  but  truth  dispels  it. 

Sometimes  the  question  is  asked.  If  Christian 
Science  be  true,  why  did  the  world  have  to  wait 
so  long  for  it  ?  We  can  answer  this  question  just 
as  we  would  answer  the  question  why  wireless 
telegraphy  or  the  steam-engine  was  not  sooner 
known.  History  shows  clearly  that  humanity  has 
been  rising 

on  stepping-stones 
Of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things. 

Again,  the  question  is  asked.  Why  was  it  left 
for  a  woman  to  rediscover  the  divine  truth-cure  ? 
That  question  is  wholly  inconsequential.  The 
vital  and  true  question  is.  Are  the  Christian  Sci- 
ence teachings  in  alignment  with  eternal  truth, 
and  is  the  Christian  Science  practice  proving  by 
its  practical  fruits  that  it  is  a  blessing  to  man- 
kind? Is  it  not  sufficient  to  know  that  Mrs. 
Eddy,  the  Discoverer  of  Christian  Science,  is  a 
profound  thinker  and  a  noble  Christian  woman, 
and  that  because  of  the  good  her  teaching  has 
accomplished  she  is  enshrined  as  the  greatest 
benefactor  of  our  age  in  the  grateful  hearts  of 


ITS   RELIGIOUS    PHILOSOPHY  43 

many  hundreds  of  thousands?  What  she  has 
done  for  humanity  is  already  an  assured  part  of 
history,  and  future  generations  will  hold  her  in 
loving  and  reverent  memory.  She  has  advanced 
the  ideals  and  anchored  the  hope  of  the  race  by 
the  noble  example  of  her  life,  as  well  as  by  her 
teachings.- 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  that  Christian  Sci- 
ence teaches  that  right  living  is  more  important 
than  ritualism;  that  good  words  must  be  accom- 
panied with  good  works;  that  practical  demon- 
strations in  overcoming  discordant  conditions 
constitute  the  test  of  right  religious  doctrine; 
that  the  teachings,  the  promises,  and  the  com- 
mands of  Jesus  are  for  all  mankind  and  for  every 
age;  that  to  be  true,  religion  must  be  adapted  to 
all  of  humanity's  real  needs,  at  all  times  and  in 
all  ways;  that  such  was  the  religion  taught  and 
exemplified  by  Jesus,  and  that  any  religious 
philosophy  which  does  not  fully  meet  all  the  real 
needs  of  humanity,  whether  moral  or  intellectual 
or  physical,  is  false  in  so  far  as  it  is  thus  in- 
complete and  impractical.  Christian  Science 
must  abide  by  the  test  just  mentioned.  If  the 
future  shall  show  that  it  has  failed  to  endure  this 
test,  it  will  pass  from  the  thought  of  the  world. 
We  may,  however,  trustingly  judge  of  its  future 
from  its  past  and  its  present. 


Periodicals  Published  by 
The  Christian  Science  Publishing   Society 

Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Sts.,  Boston.  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 

The  Christian  Science  Journal 

Founded  April,  1883,  by  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  Discoverer  and  Founder 
of  Christian  Science,  and  author  of  the  Christian  Science  Text-book, 
"Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures." 

This  monthly  magazine  is  the  official  organ  of  The  First  Church  of 
Christ,  Scientist,  in  Boston,  Mass. 

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Christian  Science  Sentinel 

A  weekly  newspaper  for  the  home,  published  every  Saturday,  con- 
la-ining  news  items  of  general  interest,  and  contributed  and  selected 
articles,  testimonies  of  healing,  and  timely  editorials  in  connection  with 
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Der  Herold  der  Christian  Science 

A  monthly  magazine  printed  in  German.  It  contains  original  and 
translated  articles  bearing  upon  Christian  Science,  testimonies  of 
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The  Christian  Science  Monitor 

A  daily  newspaper  published  every  afternoon,  except  Sunday,  of 
world-wide  scope,  containing  current  news,  and  particularly  designed 
for  those  desiring  a  high-class  publication  in  the  home. 

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The  Christian  Science  Quarterly 

Published  January,  April.  July,  and  October. 

Contains  the  Lesson-Sermons  which  a      read  at  the  Sunday 
throughout  the  year  in  all  the  Christian  Science  churches. 

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